The Alan Turing Home Page Maintained by Andrew Hodges, author of Alan Turing: the Enigma.

This Page is the gateway and guide to a large Website dedicated to Alan Turing (1912-1954). Encyclopaedia Britannica

'One of the world's top 100 websites... information-packed' .net magazine, August 1998. A branch of the Virtual Museum of Computing

Who was Alan Turing? Founder of computer science, mathematician, philosopher, codebreaker, strange visionary and a gay man before his time:

1912 (23 June): Birth, Paddington, London 1926-31: Sherborne School 1930: Death of friend Christopher Morcom 1931-34: Undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge University 1932-35: Studies quantum mechanics, probability, logic 1935: Elected fellow of King's College, Cambridge 1936: The Turing machine: On Computable Numbers... submitted 1936-38: At Princeton University. Ph.D. Papers in logic, algebra, number theory 1938-39: Return to Cambridge. Introduced to German Enigma cipher problem 1939-40 Devises the Bombe, machine for Enigma decryption 1939-42: Breaking of U-boat Enigma cipher, saving battle of the Atlantic 1943-45: Chief Anglo-American consultant. Introduced to electronics 1945: National Physical Laboratory, London 1946: Computer design, leading the world, formally accepted 1947-48: Papers on programming, neural nets, and prospects for artificial intelligence 1948: Manchester University 1949: Work on programming and world's first serious use of a computer 1950: Philosophical paper on machine intelligence: the Turing Test 1951: Elected FRS. Paper on non-linear morphogenesis theory 1952: Arrested and tried as a homosexual, loss of security clearance 1953-54: Unfinished work in biology and physics 1954 (7 June): Death by cyanide poisoning, Wilmslow, Cheshire.

Alan Turing in 1946. Full picture here

My biography of Alan Turing New American edition available: Information, reviews and ordering on Amazon.com This website complements my book: Alan Turing: the Enigma See also my Book Update section

A short on-line biography On this website I offer an extended version of the entry on Alan Turing that I wrote in 1995 for the British Dictionary of National Biography. Alan Turing's family origins and childhood the inspiration of Christopher Morcom in his early life the Turing Machine, foundation of modern computer science his critical codebreaking work in the Second World War the consequent emergence of his electronic computer plan, and its failure the first working computer, the Turing Test, and biological growth his arrest, trial, punishment, Cold War situation, new ideas and sudden death. This is followed by the Oration at Alan Turing's Birthplace that I delivered on 23 June 1998.

The Alan Turing Internet Scrapbook These pages are full of images and links to exploit the interactive and co-operative world of the Web as created by Alan Turing's invention, the computer. They don't try to give a complete picture and they don't have a consistent style. They will be in perpetual development as the Internet expands. The Scrapbook now runs over twenty pages: Empire of the mind, 1912-1928 Scrapbook Index The inspiration of life and death, 1928-1932 Turing Machines, with a Turing Machine Simulated in Java After the Turing Machine: across the Atlantic Critical Cryptanalysis in the Second World War Turing's Treatise on the Enigma Turing as the UK - USA Link, 1942 onwards The origins of Artificial Intelligence Who invented the computer? The World Class Distance Runner Machines and men's minds, Manchester, 1948-1950 The Turing (Sex) Test in theory... and the Turing Test in Practice. Growth, form and crisis, 1951-1952 Wondrous Light, the uncompleted work 1952-1954 Robin Gandy (1919-1995) Breaking the Code: Alan Turing on stage and screen Memorials to Alan Turing... and the Manchester memorial sculpture

Philosophy area My thoughts on his thinking...

My short text: Turing: a natural philosopher More details, extracts, translations and reviews

Bibliography A complete listing of Alan Turing's works

Archives and Photographs NPG Notes on archives of Turing's manuscripts and photographs of him.

my publications On-line versions of published papers by me on The Logical and the Physical Uncomputability in the work of Alan Turing and Roger Penrose Alan Turing — a Cambridge Scientific Mind Turing: for the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophy of Science Turing's Treatise on the Enigma The Nature of Turing and the Physical World

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Bibliography

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I welcome suggestions on content and presentation. Email me: andrew@synth.co.uk Last updated 1 October 2001.

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